Question: Is ${596088}$ divisible by $9$ ?
Explanation: A number is divisible by $9$ if the sum of its digits is divisible by $9$ . [ Why? First, we can break the number up by place value: $ \begin{eqnarray} {596088}= &&{5}\cdot100000+ \\&&{9}\cdot10000+ \\&&{6}\cdot1000+ \\&&{0}\cdot100+ \\&&{8}\cdot10+ \\&&{8}\cdot1 \end{eqnarray} $ Next, we can rewrite each of the place values as $1$ plus a bunch of $9$ s: $ \begin{eqnarray} {596088}= &&{5}(99999+1)+ \\&&{9}(9999+1)+ \\&&{6}(999+1)+ \\&&{0}(99+1)+ \\&&{8}(9+1)+ \\&&{8} \end{eqnarray} $ Now if we distribute and rearrange, we get this: $ \begin{eqnarray} {596088}= &&\gray{5\cdot99999}+ \\&&\gray{9\cdot9999}+ \\&&\gray{6\cdot999}+ \\&&\gray{0\cdot99}+ \\&&\gray{8\cdot9}+ \\&& {5}+{9}+{6}+{0}+{8}+{8} \end{eqnarray} $ Any number consisting only of $9$ s is a multiple of $9$ , so the first five terms must all be multiples of $9$ That means that to figure out whether the original number is divisible by $9 $ , all we need to do is add up the digits and see if the sum is divisible by $9$ . In other words, ${596088}$ is divisible by $9$ if ${ 5}+{9}+{6}+{0}+{8}+{8}$ is divisible by $9$ Add the digits of ${596088}$ $ {5}+{9}+{6}+{0}+{8}+{8} = {36} $ If ${36}$ is divisible by $9$ , then ${596088}$ must also be divisible by $9$ ${36}$ is divisible by $9$, therefore ${596088}$ must also be divisible by $9$.